HMB Endeavour by Captain Slog - Caldercraft - 1:64

[Captain Slog]

Hi Greg,

 

I had a thought about replacing all the blocks with Chucks fantastic blocks but despite being reasonably priced they would have worked out around a ¼ of the price of the kit.  I will order some of the 2mm blocks for doing the cannons and to cover any that I am short from the kit since I redid another 4 for the deck and a couple exploded under pressure from the tweezers. LOL

 

Okay, I redid the 4 deck blocks so the hole orientation was correct and also tweeked one of the tiller handle blocks as it twisted the line.  The eyebolts on the deck were also replaced as they were either a bit off or didn’t let the block hook move freely.

 

I couldn’t work out either from the plans or from the AOTS how the tiller blocks were attached so made up a ring from 0.5mm brass and placed it in a hole already there in the photo etch tiller handle and hooked the blocks in to this.

 

To help thread the rope through the block holes I touched the end with CA glue to stiffen it up then it was a case of threading the rope through the holes with tweezers.

 

To tie off the end of the rope I made a false splice and a touch of CA glue to secure it and then trimmed off the tail with a razor blade.

 

 

 

Cheers

Slog

Edited April 5, 2014 by Captain Slog

[RGL]

Looks exactly right to me! I think I have we'll and truly exceeded the cost of the kit (which was about $200 in 1999 when I started mine). The Admiral is happy as I'm not a golfer leaving her alone all day while I waste a good walk!

[shipaholic]

Looks good Slog, when I did mine I wasn't sure whether to put blocks on the tiller, the AOTS shows blocks on the tiller arm but Ray Parkins drawings don't. Toss a coin. The Replica vessel doesn't have them and that's an actual working ship so it must function okay, I guess it comes down to how many blocks are required to do the work of swinging the tiller. I bought some 2mm blocks from Chuck to do my cannon, they are really small, too small to do my cannon tackle at 1:51, maybe okay for yours at 1:60. Theyre really nice blocks though, worth the money. When I built my AL Endeavour I was sanding each block individually to shape with an emery board and applying varnish.

Cheers

Steve

Edited July 21, 2013 by shipaholic

[Captain Slog]

Hi,

Thanks for the comments.  Will probably get a bag of 2mm and 3mm blocks from Chuck in the near future and see if I can scam a Alexey serving machine for the upcoming father’s day LOL.

 

Been a bit slow on the build lately but did the Ensign staff (mast?). The plans say to use a 140mm length of 3mm dowel, a 2mm walnut ply mast support, a truck (top of the mast) and a photo etch bracket.  I didn’t bother looking for the truck on the supplied sheets as it would be walnut and to dark.

 

Photo shows the staff and the bracket bent to shape and sprayed black along with the raised platform handrail stanchions which I will tackle next. 

 

A look at the AOTS shows the mast with a sheave near the top for the ensign lanyard and a cleat to tie it off on.  To make the holes to simulate a sheave I wrapped some Tamiya tape round the top of the staff so I could mark a centre line and where to drill.  I thought the tape would also prevent the hole splintering on the backside when the drill broke through.

 

I used a 0.3mm drill held in a pin vise which I then placed in the chuck of my bench mounted drill press.  Once the holes were bored I removed the tape and then placed the mast in the drill press and whilst spinning used sand paper to get a taper to the staff.

 

Once I was happy with the taper I used the point of a No11 blade to join the two holes and pick out the waste to give the fake sheave some depth.  The painted bracket was also bent to shape.

 

 

A couple of issues, I used satin polywipe but the grain of the dowel is not uniform and appears blotchy where the varnish has been absorbed in some areas more than others.  I noticed this when staining the dowels used for the capstan and the steering wheel as the staining was quite blotchy on these also.  I think I will have issues when doing the larger section masts trying to get the finish uniform.

 

Other issue was the 2mm thick support block wasn’t thick enough for the mast to clear the roughtree rail (taffrail?) so doubled up the thickness of this to get past the rail.

 

The support block was also glued misaligned as I was working over the rear of the stern looking almost upside down.  By the time I noticed the CA glue was well and truly set and after trying to prise the support off gave up as didn’t want to damage the stern, oh well.

 

I used 0.1 mm thread and did my usual of treating with 50/50 pva glue and water and leaving to dry under tension.  After feeding the thread through the hole and bending down I used a paint brush with water to resoften the pva coated thread so it closed tighter to the front hole.

 

It would have been easier to pull the thread down tight over the front and back of the staff but I wanted to try and leave some slack at the back like it was just loose and hanging there.  Not  sure if the effect works or not.  I really need to try and source some small cleats as I tried making another one from bent wire but can’t seem to get the shape correct.

 

Will do the platform hand rail and maybe the binnacle tie downs over the rest of the weekend.

 

Cheers

Slog

Edited April 5, 2014 by Captain Slog

[RGL]

Looks fine. Is it detactable as it may get in the road later! Will you attach an ensign?

[Jeff-E]

Hi Slog,

 

It has been a while since I looked in on your log you are making great progress. Your steering gear looks excellent, as does the ensign staff 

[Ferit]

You could really integrate details with quality... Impressive...

[Micklen32]

Coming along real nice Slog

Really pointing the way for me

I am not sure I have the necessary knowledge to notice problems like you do but I will be happy if it looks anything like the picture on the box   

 

Does your build have sails????

I have not done a build with sails and I am a bit hazy on the issue

I am also hazy on building the masts and riggings from plans but that should be ok as I have done that before   

 

Keep it up   

Mick

Edited July 27, 2013 by Micklen32

[Captain Slog]

Hi guys,

 

Greg, no its fixed.  I never thought about making it detachable   .  My new plan is to start at the stern and work my way forward completing all the bits I have jumped back and forth from until its time to do the masting and rigging so hopefully won’t be in the way to much.  I doubt I will try doing the  ensign as from what I can gather from the rest of the site getting material to look realistic at this scale is probably out of my league.

 

Jeff thanks for the comments.  Will need to catch up on your Pickle build.  Your Norfolk turned out fantastic so looking forward to your Pickle.

 

Thanks Ferit your comments are appreciated.

 

Hi Mick, glad to see you reworked your hull, shouldn’t have any problems now.  The Caldercraft kit doesn’t come with sails.  Reading through the site for a few years now the general consensus is that trying to get scale sails to look right is incredibly difficult so probably far beyond my skill level.  I may try attempting furled sails but like you I am a bit hazy on the subject.

 

Since this is my 1^st build I haven’t done masting and rigging before so should be interesting.  The masts etc should be okay but I think the rigging is going to drive me nuts based on the little I have been doing with the thread so far.  This whole build consists of lessons learned and after each bit of work I have mental notes on how to do better for the next build.  

 

Last bit of progress for this week.  Attaching the hand rail stanchions and hand rope.  Nothing much to describe really except the picture shows better my misaligned ensign staff support better.  If it gets damaged I will redo it again but for now just going to live with it.  Another lesson learned for next time!

 

Cheers

Slog

Edited April 5, 2014 by Captain Slog

[kiwiron]

Hi Slog,you are doing a beautiful job of your Endeavour very nice detail work.I hope mine will come out as good if i ever finnish my Supply.

[Captain Slog]

Hi guys,

 

Ron, judging by your log you won’t be far off starting your Endeavour as its coming along great guns.

 

Back in post#50 I started doing the deadeye strops and chain links as supplied on the photo etch sheet and it was going well until I tried fitting and securing the strops around the deadeyes. 

 

I don’t understand the method Caldercraft use with the little tabs sticking out and after struggling to shape and glue the strops it didn’t come close to looking acceptable and I questioned how secure the twisted and CA glued joint would be.

 

So scrapped that idea and decided it was time to try my hand at Silver (hard) soldering!!!

 

With Father’s Day coming up I decided to get my soldering equipment early   .  The torch and the butane gas refill I got from the local Bunnings store.  The Charcoal block and the ‘easy’ silver solder paste (65% - 690 degrees C) I got from a Jewellery supply store on Hay Street, Perth which is only a 10 minute walk from the work office. http://jewellerssupplies.com.au/ . The web site says it will be selling on-line at some stage but they have AJS shops in Australian state capitals.

 

 

Using the supplied photo etch components I worked out the required lengths for the large and small deadeye strops and the large and small chain links.  Once I knew the lengths I worked out the required circumferences for each size and component.  The idea is to make a serious of rings for jointing and then bending to shape.  After annealing the wire I wrapped it round the appropriate diameter mandrel.

 

 

Here are the 4 different diameters for large and small strops and chain links.  Once I knew the diameter required I measured everything round I could find and ended up with a couple of hollow punches, a drill bit and a screw driver shaft.

 

 

Here are all the cut rings.  I used a Stanley knife to cut the coils in to rings.  I used 0.5mm brass rod for the small strops and both chain links.  The large strops I used 0.7mm rod.  Using the plans I scribbled notes on business cards so I can build up the correct amount of assemblies using the 4 ring sizes and 2 chain plate size combinations.

 

 

Here are the 8 assemblies needed for the mizzen mast channels.  The rings have been assembled and a small amount of paste applied to the 2 joints of each assembly and placed on the charcoal block ready for soldering.  The solder paste comes in a syringe with a 0.5mm nozzle but I squeezed a small amount out on to card and used a needle held in the pin vise to apply a smidgen round each joint.

 

 

After practicing using the torch to anneal the wire and light cigarettes it was time to see how my first silver soldering is going to turn out.  I turned the flame down to the lowest setting and applied it to each assembly in turn.  It only took 1 to 2 seconds for the brass to heat up and the paste to turn silver and flow out.  That’s all it took

 

Here is my very first attempt at silver soldering .  Photo shows them straight from the flame I haven’t cleaned them up at all.  I was surprised and expected to do a lot of filing

 

 

Okay, only another 32 to do.  I will clean them up and roughly bend to shape, the strops round the deadeye and the chain links into lozenges.  I will try blackening them next and then once that’s done place the deadeye in and squeeze to final shape.

 

 

If you have been thinking about silver soldering, I say go for it as I found it very rewarding, although the work in the photos above took a couple of hours for about 10 seconds of soldering 

 

Cheers

Slog

[Captain Slog]

Hi,

 

A bit more progress on the deadeye strops and chains.

 

After soldering all the links from the post above, I tried my hand at brass blackening using Birchwood Caseys Brass Black from the local gunshop.  They initially looked very good but as soon as I started handling them the black flaked and rubbed off.  I knew this was down to insufficient cleaning of the links as at the time I just gave them a rub with a brass bristle brush.

 

I found it easier to just snip all the rings off the supplied photo etch chain plates (to keep and reuse) and bin the links and redo them all again.  I didn't mind as I was enjoying the soldering and also used the opportunity to replace the large 0.7mm strops with 0.5mm as decided they looked better.

 

Once I re-soldered all 40 assemblies (again)and pre-bent to shape it was time to sort the blackening.  I bought a small bottle of Hydrochloric acid (Please be careful using the acid if you try this) from Bunnings and soaked them all for a minimum of 10 minutes occasionally agitating them. After rinsing in water I dropped them into a 50:50 solution of blackening and water varying the times between 2 and 4 minutes (never noticed any difference).

 

After rinsing again and drying I used a soft bristle paint brush to rub them against a cloth.  I inserted the deadeye and did a final squeeze to shape.  The blackening seems to have worked but still get left with black fingers when handling but at least it doesn't all come off.  I found the black was easily scratched though.

 

Picture shows all 40 assemblies.  From the 80 solder joints I had 2 failures when I gave them the final squeeze. Not to bad really.

 

 

Picture shows the 3 different sizes used.  Top is the mizzen mast shrouds, middle is the Fore and main mast back stays and bottom is the fore and main mast shrouds.

 

 

Also been working on other bits and pieces   I did the binnacle tie downs which was an exercise in frustration.  I used a thin Gutermann thread from the local Spotlight store to try seizing (thanks Shipaholic for pointing me there).

 

 

Also alternating between the chains and cannons.  All the carriage parts are from a walnut ply sheet which after cutting free and tidying up they don’t look to bad.  As Caldercraft use CNC for cutting there materials I need to use a small needle file next to remove the round bottoms of the slots on the axle parts and the carriage sides so they sit flush.  I think the 4 pounder barrels look very nice although can’t vouch for size or accuracy but looks good.

 

Cheers

Slog

[shipaholic]

Wow Slog, those chain assemblies look brilliant

Steve

[RGL]

Great work on the chains

[WackoWolf]

Love the work. Keep the pictures coming.

[Timmo]

Those dead eyes and chains are an exercise in patience and craftsmanship. Nice work Slog.

Wayne

[Captain Slog]

Hi guys,

 

Thank you all for your comments.  I actually found the whole process of making the chains very enjoyable and rewarding.  The decision to do them all again was met with enthusiasm.  This was the polar opposite of trying to get the supplied photo etch parts to work which was very frustrating.

 

Now if only I can find other bits and pieces needing soldering

 

Cheers

Slog

[Micklen32]

Slog, those chains are brilliant   

The OcCre way is to bend brass wire around the deadeyes and then run a single wire down to the hull

I was thinking it may look better if I had the deadeye in the centre of the length of wire and had the two wires coming down slightly apart

I will have to do one and put it up see what people think

That is if my fingers ever recover from making these samson posts and columns   

 

Keep up the great work Slog   

Mick

[Captain Slog]

Hi,

 

Mick, the chains and plates supplied by Caldercraft are good in that they match the same style as described in the AOTS book as well as the Endeavour replica.  The ones I made were to replace the supplied ones but still match the style of the originals.  Not sure how the OcCre ones look like but perhaps as Alistair says might be easier to buy suitable ones.

 

Okay a bit of progress on the channels and deadeye chains.  The instructions/plans say to glue a strip of 1.5mm square walnut stock on the edge of the channels.  A couple of problems with this in that the plywood channels are actually 2mm thick?! Also the supplied 1.5mm walnut strip stock is pretty poor being splintery as well as…well not very square.  Its more diamond shaped and pretty rough.  So did it slightly different if not a bit longer to do.

 

To hold the deadeyes in place in the channel notches I dabbed a tiny amount of CA glue, using a needle, on to the strop and placed them in the notches.  I only used enough glue to hold them in place temporarily until the channel edge strip is in place trapping the strop in the channel.  Once completed a small tweek broke the glue bound and left the deadeyes free with in the notch as planned.

 

 

Instead of using the 1.5mm stock as instructed I decided to use some 1.5mm x 5mm lime planking left over from the first layer of hull planking for a number of reasons.  Firstly it is much more flexible being able to bend more easily against the edge of the channel and much more easily to work with.  I ripped the 5mm width down to 2.5mm so that the edges were proud slightly of the channel as well accommodating the slight bow of the main and fore channels.

 

 

Once the channel edge strips were glued on using CA glue I used a single edge razor blade to pare the strip edges down flush with the channel surfaces.  Because the deadeyes are free floating in the notches I could lift them up to clear the blade.

 

 

Edge strips in place, parred down and painted to match the channels.  Again I could lift the deadeyes up to paint the topside and pull the chains up to paint the undersides.

 

 

Next step now is to place a dowel in the mast holes and run some thread (to simulate the shrouds) from the height of the mast tops down past the deadeyes to get the correct angle of the chain and preventer links before fixing to the hull with nails. 

 

With the deadeyes being free I can pull them down on to the channels before securing with nails through the preventer links so that the deadeyes won’t pull up when the lanyards and shrouds put tension on them.  Well that’s the plan.

 

Cheers

Slog

Edited April 5, 2014 by Captain Slog

[Micklen32]

Lovely work Slog

You are a real inspiration to me

I doubt mine will ever be the quality you are producing as I am using mostly the OcCre parts and I don't have your skill

But looking at yours does give me something to  aim at

Thanks a lot for being here   

 

Keep it up   

Mick

[RGL]

Excellent work

[maso]

Great work Slog. Another idea to add to the collection for my next build.

 

Dave.

[Captain Slog]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for the nice comments, they are much appreciated.  In my household no one understands, takes an interest or appreciates the effort, blood, sweet and tears that we go through in building these models so comments like the above are very encouraging.

 

Mick, I guess with these kinds of kits we are always at the mercy of what the manufacturer supply us with.  I weigh up using and doing what and how the kit says and what others on here have done or embellishing kit parts based on others and the AOTS.   Example being Steve (shipaholic) has put in the correct bend to his bowsprit but I think that is beyond me and will just do it straight like the plans say.

 

At the end of the day we do this for pleasure and as long as we learn and try to improve for the next model its all good.  I sometimes wish I could start this one over again as my ‘foundation’ (hull) isn’t the best and causing/will cause problems and compromises down the track.  Example being a clash between chain links and airing port placement as discovered earlier today. LOL

 

Not much progress done today as time isn’t permitting. I started securing the chain links and preventers to the hull just to show how I am doing it.  These are going to take a while and will try and do a couple at a time as time allows.

 

I previously bought some railway track pins to use as ‘bolts’ earlier in the build and the smaller thinner ones fit nicely into the holes in the preventer strap.  Not sure if you can see from the photo but I tried to show a preventer strap side on to show how there is a recess (rebate?) on one end.  This fits over the top of a similar recess on the chain link to form a halving type of joint.  This is a nice touch by Caldercraft as it is exactly how the AOTS shows. I just need to remember to ensure I fitted the chain links the right way round in the channels to ensure the 2 halves fit together.

 

 

Here is how I attached them to the hull.  Firstly strung a length of thread through the middle hole in the deadeye and pulled it up to the correct (hopefully) height on the dowel placed in the mast hole.  As you can see the deadeye pulled up off the channel but this is okay as it gets pulled back down.

 

Secondly I bent the bottom of the link with the recess/hole at an angle where it fits against the hull then using a needle in the pin vise, I placed it in the hole and pulled the deadeye back down and once happy the angle was correct, following the thread, pushed the needle into the hull to mark the pin location.  Using a drill and the pin vice made the hole for the pin. I pushed the pin into the assembly and then pressed fully home into the hull hopefully putting the final correct bend on o the bottom preventer.

 

To glue I pulled the pin back out a bit and using CA glue applied with a needle coated the pin shaft, the back edge of the preventer link where it touches the hull before pushing the pin fully home again.

 

 

The following photos just show progress to date.  The long preventer links on the larger deadeyes were done similarly but when I pushed the unglued assembly home I then angled the preventer link to the correct position to drill the bottom hole.  To glue I pulled both pins out slightly and applied CA glue again with the needle to surfaces that touch each other or the hull and then pushed both pins fully home again.

 

 

 

I had planned on fully rigging the cannon but as the smallest rings I have are the copper supplied ones (chemically blacked) there is no way these will all fit on the tiny carriage.  As mentioned by Steve on his log I might try seeing how small I can make my own but at the moment haven’t got any wire smaller than 0.5mm which looking at the photo below looks as thick as an arm!

 

 

Cheers

Slog

[aliluke]

Hi Slog

Have looked here before but not posted on your log. Your work is extremely good, clean, accurate and precise - all those words...I'd encourage you to go for fully rigged cannons. They will really add to the model and your model deserves them. Possibly look at after market cannons and carriages such as Chuck's? The carriages you have from the kit look a bit rough - you can buy much better and the cost/time benefit it is easy to justify (to yourself at least...). It can be done and your skills can do it!

 

My thoughts - a wonderful model in any respect regardless.

 

Cheers

Alistair

[ross]

What a great build slog,your doing a top notch job,keep up the good work.(just recieved my cc endeavour yesterday) following your log will be of great help to me,and many others i am shure ,Ross

[Micklen32]

The chains look really good Slog and have definitely pushed me towards getting some from CMB

As to the rings for the cannon I have seen gold plated jewellery making wire down to 0.2mm

Whether you could make use of that????????????

There are a few places on our eBay who have it

I haven't seen that small in plain brass but it may be out there

 

Keep it up 

Mick

Edited September 1, 2013 by Micklen32

[src]

Slog,

Just tumbled onto your build, really clean work! Did I read correctly, this is your first build?? Wow.

I wish there were more hours in the day, I keep finding more ad more build like this one I want to follow.

sam

[PierreJean]

Hi Slog

I'm a new member to this forum and have just stumbled on your build of the Endeavour.  Wow, I'm impressed with the level of care and detail you're putting into your build!  In fact the level of craftmanship in all the builds on this site leave me feeling rather inadequate!  I'm a much more slap dash builder being rather impatient and wanting to get on with the next build!  You've taken what, 3 years with your Endeavour, I've taken 9 months.  Your build is way above mine - I can only console myself that I come from an RC background where detail isn't that crucial.

Anyway, I've inserted two  pics showing you my Endeavour. Im just starting the rattling and can see the end of the tunnel!

Regards

Pierre

[PierreJean]

Oops

Cant seem to attach files

Pierre

[Captain Slog]

Hi Slog

Have looked here before but not posted on your log. Your work is extremely good, clean, accurate and precise - all those words...I'd encourage you to go for fully rigged cannons. They will really add to the model and your model deserves them. Possibly look at after market cannons and carriages such as Chuck's? The carriages you have from the kit look a bit rough - you can buy much better and the cost/time benefit it is easy to justify (to yourself at least...). It can be done and your skills can do it!

 

My thoughts - a wonderful model in any respect regardless.

 

Cheers

Alistair

Hi Alistair, thanks for dropping by.  I checked out Chucks carriages and cannon and although they look fantastic the smallest he has are 6 pounders compared to the Endeavour peashooter 4 pounders.  I did measure the cannon supplied and they are about 3-4mm shorter than Chucks.  My worry is they will be to big to fit under the roughtree rails.

 

I think I will perserver with the supplied ones first and see how they turn out.  Hopefully once cleaned up and painted they should pass muster, if not can always try Chucks ones.

 

What a great build slog,your doing a top notch job,keep up the good work.(just recieved my cc endeavour yesterday) following your log will be of great help to me,and many others i am shure ,Ross

HI Ross, exciting times receiving a new model.  Hope you start a build log.  Although I lost all my progress photos from box opening to second layer planking just ask and will help where I can.  Looking forward to seeing it. 

 

The chains look really good Slog and have definitely pushed me towards getting some from CMB

As to the rings for the cannon I have seen gold plated jewellery making wire down to 0.2mm

Whether you could make use of that????????????

There are a few places on our eBay who have it

I haven't seen that small in plain brass but it may be out there

 

Keep it up 

Mick

Thanks Mick, I think a fairly local hobby shop sells 0.3mm piano wire which I check out and there is a jewelry supply store close to work which I will try also. 

 

Slog,

Just tumbled onto your build, really clean work! Did I read correctly, this is your first build?? Wow.

I wish there were more hours in the day, I keep finding more ad more build like this one I want to follow.

sam

Sam, thanks for the kind words, yup this is my 1st wood ship build.  Did the usual plastic planes and tanks as a kid but straight out the box and painted with whatever was at hand LOL  I know what you mean about build logs, there is so much nice work out there not forgetting the hints and tips gleaned from them I feel guilty about not posting on them more.

 

 

Hi Slog

I'm a new member to this forum and have just stumbled on your build of the Endeavour.  Wow, I'm impressed with the level of care and detail you're putting into your build!  In fact the level of craftmanship in all the builds on this site leave me feeling rather inadequate!  I'm a much more slap dash builder being rather impatient and wanting to get on with the next build!  You've taken what, 3 years with your Endeavour, I've taken 9 months.  Your build is way above mine - I can only console myself that I come from an RC background where detail isn't that crucial.

Anyway, I've inserted two  pics showing you my Endeavour. Im just starting the rattling and can see the end of the tunnel!

Regards

Pierre

 

Hi Pierre, you do yourself an injustice, the photos you posted of your build look fantastic and certainly not slap dash!

 

Cheers

Slog